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REPORT 



OF 



The Honourable Mr. Justice Riddell 

AS 

Representative of the Province of Ontario 

AT THE 

Ceremonies in the City of New Orleans 



Held in Commemoration of the One Hundredth Anniversary 

of the Battle of New Orleans, and of the One 

Hundred Years of Peace, which began 

with the end of that Battle 



PRINTED BY ORDER OF 

THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO 




TORONTO : 
Printed and Published by L. K. CAMERON, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty 

1915. 



3(p3 



REPORT 



OF 



The Honourable Mr. Justice Riddell 



AS 



Representative of the Province of Ontario 



AT THE 



Ceremonies in the City of New Orleans 



Held in Commemoration of the One Hundredth Anniversary 

of the Battle of New Orleans, and of the One 

Hundred Years of Peace, which began 

with the end of that Battle 



PRINTED BY ORDER OF 

THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO 




TORONTO : 
Printed and Published by L. K. CAMERON, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty 

19 15. 






Printed by 

WILLIAM BRIGGS 

29-37 Richmond Street West 

TORONTO 

D. Of D. 

,.PR 26.19 5 



lili February, P.M.".. 
'I'm: Honourable W. If. Hearst, 

Prime Minister of Ontario. 

Sir, — 1 was honoured with your instructions to represent the Province of 
Ontario at the ceremonies in the City of Xew Orleans held in commemoration of 
the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans and of the One 
Hundred Years of Peace which began with the end of that Battle. 

Accompanied by Mrs. Riddell, J took the pain leaving New York on the 
afternoon of Tuesday, January 5th, 1915, and met on the same train E. H. 
Scamniell, Esq., K.C.I.S., organizing secretary, and C. Cambie, Esq., honorary 
treasurer of the Canadian Peace Centenary Association; also R. Houle, Esq., an 
Alderman of the City of Montreal who had been officially designated by that City 
as its representative, and J. G. Walsh, Esq., of the same city. There were also 
Mr. John A. Stewart, of New York, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the 
American Peace Centenary Association, and the Hon. Oscar Strauss, of Xew York. 
former American Ambassador to Turkey and Secret. in of the United States De- 
partment of Commerce and Labor; and the personal representative of the President 
of the United States, Mr. Andrew .1. Peters, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. 

Arriving at New Orleans on the morning of Thursday. January 7th, we were 
met by members of the Reception Committee and conducted to the Hotel 
Grunewald, which was the headquarters of the General Arrangement Committee of 
the Celebration. During our passage through the streets we saw what for an 
American Cit\ must be considered a uovel spectacle, that is, from end to end of 

the city and on practically all the streets, on al si everj lamp post was to be seen 

the British Flag on the one side, Hanked by the American Flag on the other. This 
struck me more particularly because at the demonstration in Plattsburg in Sept- 
ember, 1914, which 1 attended upon the imitation of the New York State Com- 
mittee, there was no display of the British Flag, the only time that it was in 
evidence at all being at the conclusion of the historical pageant. At Plattsburg, 
however, there was manifested the strongest feeling of friendship towards Canada 
and the Empire, and in practically every quarter it was clear that the cause of the 
Allies was dear to the heart of the American people there present. I speak, there- 
, of the absence of the British Flag not at all as indicating any want of resp& I 
or friendship for our people, but -imply to illustrate the different manner in which 
that respect is manifested in different parts of the American Union. 

At Plattsburg, as at New Orleans, we Canadians were everywhere made bo feel 
. the real celebration was not -.. much of the battle as of the long peace which 

followed; and in both places we wi ositions of I our on all occasions, 

and were treated throughout a- favoured guests. 

During the day the Canadian part . ivas joined ,u Xew Orleans by 1 1 is Honour 
George William Brown, Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Saskatchewan, 

with Mrs. Brown, and by the II urable J. R. Boyle, Minister of Education of the 

Province of Alberta, and Mrs. Bo 

On the evening of the 7th, the Daughters of L77G and lsp.' gave a reception 
in the Cold Room of the Grunewald Hotel, to which the Canadian- were invited. 
At this reception, in the receivit ivere four ladies whose fathers had fought 

on the battlefield ei hundred ears before. There wa eni the daughter of 



EEPOET 01- THE Xo - 60 



VdmiMl Raphael Semmes, Commander of the Alabama, whose name is held in 
;.v ice st throughout 'the Southern States-while there is no doubt that he 
South is now as loyal to the Union as any other part of -the United States, the 
memory of those who fought for separation is still cherished. 

The reception was an exceedingly brilliant one, and was attended by repre- 
seiitalives,lSh ladies and gentlemen, from all the States of the Mississippi Galley 
and most of the other States in the South. 

The programme of Friday, January Mb, began with the salute o twenty-one 

Citv Hofl "t'U P«to, b, r ■ EMI •< I ™n, »'"< " ,e "" m 

of the City of New Orleans. n-H-ipfipM a 

The demonstration of the day was of course at the ^lmette Battiefield a 

short dLie from the city. At ten-fifteen the Public School -f^^^Z 

train from the terminal station in Canal Street for the battlefield, while at .eleven 

lm Stiver parade on the Mississippi River for the Chalmette Battlefield left 

he h" u\ of CaSl Street, led by the official committee on the steamship Eanove, 

The waters of the Mississippi River are not attractive, being brown and to a 

Canadian eve d°rty; but the sail itself to the battlefield was .exceedingly m- 

Ka3 beautiful. The gnosis and other ofn cial dign^anes we. c ar ,d 

,u a special boat, and were landed at the -lips adjacent to the battlefield, 



noon. 



The exercises there were very long but at the same time very interesting. 
Governor 55 tie Governor of the State of Louisiana, made the opening address 
! • honi leh was responded to by ^ ^^^^^7 ^^ 
Wilson and also by the personal representative oi His Majesty, H. T. Carew riunt 
^Consul General aAew Oriel, who bad been appointed by His Majesty as 
his Special Representative for the occasion. 

- ; « n^rl" 1 ! n^lsS 1 >SS 

"° g '"" ""..J S, ; * K? ' • , 1 one -,:.„ tke totaTD.ti.mJ hymn, which 

' The mouument on the battlefield which was to be unveiled is made of cut stone, 

Ik. YMC.I .tended I. replicate Ike historic m. of tke M. torn Fort M 
Jolm-now Spanish I-.', vrke. called t. urn. on Ike onunm n 1814. It ~> 



1915 HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RIDDELL. 

be that I am influenced by local patriotism, but it did no! seem to me that the 
Louisiana athletes were quite equal to our own, as we see them daily in Toronto 
during the season. 

In the evening, military baud concerts were given in both Jackson and 
Lafayette Squares; a military ball was given at the Washington Artillery Hall; 
but the most interesting evenl was at the Atheneinn. where, before an audience of 
soldiers and sailors in uniform, and fashionably dressed society from all parts of 
the Union, the pupils of the Jackson School, assisted by a few of the younger 
social set. reproduced, in living tableaux, street and home scenes in New Orleans a 
hundred years ago. The stage of the Atheneum was set with scenery showing the 
city as a village — the auditorium decorated with branches of live oak. vine and 
palms. The tableaux were intended to represent the homes at New Orleans at the 
time of the British invasion, the encampment of Jackson's soldiers, and the street 
scene after bis victory. The scenes were very animated and charming, and 
elicited well-deserved applause. 

On Saturday morning early, began the parade through the streets of American 
soldiers and sailors, who marched to the strains of " It'.- a Long Way to Tipperary." 
In line were the seventh and fourth regiments of the United States Infantry with 
their band, .sailors and marines from the battleship Rhode Island, with a band, 
Louisiana Xational Guard, Louisiana Naval Militia, and a Battalion of Wash- 
ington artillery. The section of the parade which perhaps attracted most attention 
was what is called a " Jackass Battery." This is a mountain battery of the regular 
army, and is so called because the guns, taken apart, are loaded on the backs of 
mules. 

These forces were at the City Hall reviewed by the Governor of Louisiana and 
^taff, the representatives of Hi- Majesty and of President Wilson, the Admiral 
commanding the fourth division of the Atlantic fleet, Lieutenant-Colonel Hassell . 
of the British army, a number of the officers of the United States army, the Mayor 
of the city, and the Canadian representatives. 

Immediately after the parade the statue of Henry Clay in Lafayette Square 
was decorated by the Kentucky Society of Louisiana, and at Jackson Square the 
statue of Genera] Andrew -lack-on was decorated by a Ladies' Association. 

In the afternoon Battle Abbey, a new addition to the Louisiana museum ami 
devoted to relies and documents portraying Louisiana's part in the development of 
the south-west, was formally dedicated. This Abbej has already a considerable 
number of the relies of the early times in .Yew Orleans. 

A reception was given on Saturday afternoon in tie- t ahildo, the old Spanish 
headquarter-, by the Louisiana Society of Colonial Dames, ami i er by the 
members of the Louisiana Supreme Court; while. lateT on, the old I rsul 
Convent was visited, at which a commemoration tablet was unveiled. 

In the evening the military concert- in Jackson and Lafayette Squares were 
repeated, ami in Lafayette Square the concert was followed by a display of 
fire we 

At the Grunewald Hotel on Saturday evening ai 7.30 began the International 

• • Banquet, which lasted for several hours. The banquel itself was very 
te; the banqueting room being decorated with American and British fla 
the British ipying the place of honour behind the head of the table, 

flanl athed by American flags. The toasl to The Presideni was res- 

ponded to b} Mr. Peters; thai of the King by Mr. Carevi Hunt. Governor 
IP,n | to thi toasl o Thi State of Louisiana; Mayor Behrman answered 



REPORT OF THE No. 60 



for New Orleans: Major-General Bell for The Army; Bear Admiral McLean 
for the Navy; and Dr. GaiUarcl Hunt, of Washington, spoke on "Andrew 
Jackson in History." 1 was asked to speak on " A Canadian's View of the Battle 
of New Orleans,"' and 1 transmit with this report a copy of my remarks. The 
outstanding speeches of the banquet were those of Lieutenant-Governor Brown, 
who spoke for New Canada, and Mr. Oscar Strauss, who spoke on the Centenary 
of Peace. Both addresses were of a very high character, and well deserve preser- 
vation. No report, however, was taken of these addresses, and I have not the 
manuscripts, if any exist. 

Mr. Seammell, who was called upon to respond to the toast of The Ladies, 
presented a large and beautiful British flag to the United States Daughters of 
1812, accompanying it with the hope that a hundred years thereafter this flag 
might be used in 'the celebration of another centenary of peace. 

" The Maple Leaf," described as the national song of Canada, was sung with 
as much vigour as " The Star Spangled Banner " or as " Maryland, my Maryland " : 
and " God Save the King " as vigorously as " America." The first song sung was 
the International Hymn, which indicates the amity and union of the Empire and 
the Republic. 

On Sunday. January Kith, Mr. Seammell paid tribute to the memory of 
Andrew Jackson by hanging on the right arm of his statute in Jackson Square a 
large and beautiful evergreen wreath, to which was attached a note in the following 
terms : " It is our wish that the peace which has lasted for a century shall continue 
for ever. THE BRITISH LEGATION." During this ceremony the sailors and 
marines of the United States ship Rhode Island stood by the park entrance with 
their arms held at salute. 

The main celebration, however, was m the St. Louis Cathedral. An amphi- 
theatre was arranged on each side of the entrance to the Cathedral, stretching 
"across the street to Jackson Square. In the Square, the crowning of Andrew 
.lackson a hundred years ago in the old Place d' Amies was as nearly as possible re- 
produced with exactitude. A young gentleman representing General Jackson was 
presented by .voting ladies with a palm of victory, and then, proceeding to the door 
of the Cathedral, he was met by the Bishop, and a laurel crown was placed upon bis 
head by the Right Reverend Prelate. The great crowd then entered the historic 
St. Louis Cathedra], Canadians being, as at other times, given precedence. 

Owing to the age of the Cathedral, it was deemed unwise to attempt to use 
the galleries, but the lower floor was filled to its utmost capacity. What was very 
noticeable and significant was that over the high altar floated the American and 
British flags side by side, and that these flags were found united here and there 
throughout the edifice. No other flag was to be seen, with the exception of the 
Papal flag and one French tricolor. The special music was most impressive; but 
perhaps the most striking feature was the march of two battalions of the Seventh 
Regiment of the United State- Army down the main aisle to the tune of " Onward, 
( 'hristian Soldiers." 

A solemn Pontifical high in.i>> was celebrated, and the Te Deum was reverently 
chanted, alternate verses being Ming by priests in the sanctuary and a very large 
and excellently trained choijr in the gallery. 

When afternoon came, there was a parade of civic and fraternal societies, com- 
posed of Masonic bodies of various ranks. Woodmen of the World, Knights of 
Columbus, Elks, Druids, Loyal Order of Moose, United American Mechanics 
(Junior Order"). &e. I was informed that there is some rivalry in New 
Orlean- between the Knights of Columbus, a Roman Catholic organization, and the 



1915 HOXOURABLK Ml!. .H/sTICE RIDDELL. 



Masonic Order, to which few if any Roman Cal lo] es belong; which resulted in 
both organizations exhibiting their full strength. The parade was elaborate and 
very beautiful, although somewhat marred by rain. 

This terminated the official demonstrations. 'Mi Monday, however, some of 
the Canadian representatives honoured the memory of General Pakenham by 
placing a wreath on the farm-house which had been his headquarters on the fatal 
day when he received his death wound. I cannot do better than copy here what 
is said of the demonstration by a local paper, the Xew Orleans Daily States: ^ 

" Overlooked and almost entirely forgotten, the memory of the loser in the 
battle of Xew Orleans went practically unrecalled through the elaborate centennial 
ceremonies in honor of the victor— unrecalled until Monday afternoon, when a 
small but none the less impressive memorial party, consisting of two men and two 
women, journeyed below the battlefield to honor the spot thai had received his 
life-blood. 

" Completely hidden in a grove of sheltering oak trees and covered with a 
century's vegetation, the charred and crumbling ruins of the little farm house 
that once had been General Pakenham's headquarter-, and in which the brave Irish 
General had died, were momentarily disturbed while the small delegation placed 
a wreath on the crumbling walls. There were no idle speeches, no strains of 
martial music, no thundering of gun>. nothing but the sigh of the wind through the 
moss-hung oaks : yet the very simplicity th eremony lent it a grandeur beyond 
the need of human noise. 

•' A failure in a military ?eiu-r. perhaps, yet a hero by virtue of having given 
bis life to Ids country, no thoughtlessness of a world which judges by accomplish- 
ments alone can slur his memory. 

"Those who made up the party were: Hon. J. R. Boyle. Minister of Education 
for the Province of Alberta: E. H. Scammell, of Ottawa: Mrs. .1. R. Boyle; and 
Mrs. W. 0. Hart, of this city, who went as guide." 

This article not unfairly represents the attitude of the whole press of Xew 
Orleans toward.-, th.' British soldiery and thcr gallantry upon the occasion of the 
disaster a hundred years ago. 

In conclusion J should like to add a statement of what struck me most on this 
visit to New Orleans : 

First, tic extraordinary display ol Bun- Sags of which I have already 
spoken. I was informed that then- was a small but very active body of German- 
Americans, German sympathizer.-, who objected t" this use of our ensign and 
refused to take part in the demonstration ; bin they were hopelessly outnumbered. 

Secondly, the warm appreciation of thi part taken in tin 1 celebration by Canada 
and Canadians. Nothing was left undone to make our visit plea-ant and to 
manifest to as the strength of affection which the people of Louisiana have for our 
counl iv. 

Thirdly, the overwhelming >enl mei of the cause of the Allies 

during the present juncture. On this I must of course speak with some diffidence, 
ii is not ;ii all likely thai German sympathizers would express enti- 

meiit- to ;i Canadian. However, I used every means, by keeping m\ eyes and ears 
open. t<> ascertain what view the people of thai part of the country held as to the 
merits of tin I war: and 1 received many assurances, quite unsolicited and 

most of them not in answer to questions, thai the people, at least of that part of 
the United States, tvere very largely with us. \n editor of a prominent paper, 
in one of the best-known cities of Mississippi, assured me that more (ban ninety- 
five per cent, of the people of the M i ley weri our of Britain ami 
her Alli' 



8 



KEPORT OF THE 



Xo. 60 



Fourthly. Even the small minority whose sympathies were on the German 
side, were thoroughly determined, as I was assured, that the United States should 
have peace with Britain. Outside of an occasional fire-eater — that class is found 
in all countries — it seems to me that the unanimous sentiment of the United States 
is for continued amity with our Empire; and this, I venture to think, is one of 
the strongest grounds upon which we should build our hopes for ultimate world 
peace. 

I would conclude by saying that I have been in many of the States of the 
Union since the war broke out, and in none of them have I found any different 
sentiment. 

Enclosed herewith is copy of a letter sent to me by Dr. Falconer, President 
of the University of Toronto. I was fortunately able to deliver his message and to 
be favored with a corresponding message from the Tulane University of Louisiana. 

I have the honour to be, 

Sir, 

Your obedient servant, 

WILLIAM RENWICK RIDDELL. 



President's Office, University of Toronto, 
! December 23 rd, 1914. 

My Dear Mr. Justice Riddell, — I am glad to know that you have been 
officially appointed by the Government to represent them at the centenary celebra- 
tion at New Orleans in connection with the- hundred years of peace existing between 
the two countries. Of the various organizations and institutions that are con- 
nected with these celebrations none should be more deeply interested in their 
successful issue than the universities of the land. Literature, learning, science, 
and civilization do not belong to any one country. Modem culture should be 
international, with of course its own national phases and inspiration. Therefore. 
in the University of Toronto we rejoice greatly in the continued good-will between 
these two great English-speaking countries, a good-will that is constantly increased 
by the reciprocal advantages that come to members of our universities through 
fraternal intercourse at meetings of learned societies and at university celebrations. 
We have learned a great deal from the universities of the United States. They 
have on their staffs many of our graduates. Though we have our own ideals and 
pursue our own course, the intimacy 'between the universities of the United States 
and Canada has been for many years very strong, and I hope that with the growth 
of mutual respect this intimacy will not only be maintained but increased in the 
years to come. Will you as the representative from our Senate convey our greetings 
to those gathered in the celebrations? 

Yours sincerely, 



Hon. Mr. Justice W. R. Riddell, 
Toronto. 



(Sgd.) Robt. A. Falconer, 

President. 



1915 HONOURABLE ME. JUSTICE RIDDELL. 



A CANADIAN'S VIEW OF THE BATTLE OP NEW ORLEANS. 

Address delivered at International Peace Banquet by the Honourable William 
Renwick Riddell. LL.D., E.I.'. Hist. Soc., etc., Jusl I • Supreme Court 

of Ontario. 



I have the very great honour and pleasure of representing here Ontario, the 
Queen Province of the Dominion, and in that capacity of bringing to the people of 
the United States and especially to the people of the State of Louisiana the hearty 
greetings of their northern sister. 

It is well for us to be here. 

Pleasant it is after leaving my beautiful Province, clad in her Christmas attire 
of immaculate white, to come to this more southern land of fervid sunshine: 
pleasant to travel many hundreds of miles through a friendly land; hut most 
pleasant of all to find at the end of the journey a warm and cordial reception by 
men of our own race and speech — our kin and very brethren. 

You, sir, have spoken of us Canadians coming such a long way from home to 
assist on this occasion. We have indeed come a long way; but for my brother and 
sister Canadians, as for myself, I decline to accept the statement that we are 
from home. Behind you hangs the flag of our Empire, 

"The flag that braved a thousand years. 
The battle and the breeze," 

"Our glorious semper eadem, 
The banner of our pride." 

It is wreathed all round by another flag which we all know and look upon as 
next to our own — both with the same red, whit.- and blue, though differently 
arranged : 

" In precious blood its red is dyed, 

Jts white is Honour's sign. 

In weal or ruth its blue is truth, 

1 1- might tbr power divine." 

Throughout your streets r Ohio) J& side by side with your idolized 

Old Glory; and in the land in which thai flag can rest secure guarded on either 
hand by the flag of the land, where that flag can wave secure from msult and 
cavil because waving in harmony with that oi ountry itsi • Canadian 

arj alien. Kut finds himself at home. We are bone of your bone and flesh 
of your flesh. 

The occasion enhances the pleasure which a risil i New Orleans must needs 
give a Canadian. We have for more than two ye celebrating the centennial 

of battles, victories on one side or the other, in thai inconsequenl Eratricidal sti 
of one hundred years ago. Yesterday was the centennial of the Battle of New 
Orleans, and there will he no more to I" irated it is quite too much to 

expect that our friends of Alabama will in o celebrate with them the last 

military operation of the war, when, on the T-'th February, 181'' 

,,■ Fori near Mobile, "con if 100 men oi the 2nd American Regiment," 



10 BEPOKT OF THE No. 60 



after the surrender of the day before, " marched out with all the honours of war 
and laid down their arms upon the glacis." We are through with battles: and 
while I am glad to do full honour to the gallant men who fought on either side.. I 
rejoice that we have no more battles to celebrate. What we celebrate now and 
to-night is not the war and the struggle between our peoples, not the last battle 
our peoples fought against each other, but the beginning of that century of peace 
which is their pride and boast. 

You have said that never during that century has either country seen within 
its territory armed forces of the other. That is not strictly correct. The other 
day a colonel of the United States Army told me that he expected the following 
week to march his command four miles in Canada. I replied that he might. : 
he would, march them four thousand miles in Canada, and receive a welcome at 
every mile. This was, however, a friendly and not a hostile raid. 

Hot many months ago, speaking on a similar occasion at Plattsburg, I said 
that the battle of Plattsburg made the Treaty of Peace possible, because it had its 
effect in bringing the British to moderate their demands so that terms honourable 
to all could be agreed upon— Peace with Honour could be secured. The Battle of 
Plattsburg made the Peace possible ; the Battle of New Orleans, in my view, made 
it palatable and therefore permanent, In saying this, I do not affect to give the 
official Canadian view— if there is such a view— not the Canadian view, but one 
Canadian's view, which may or may not recommend itself to others, Canadians or 
otherwise. 

In considering the course of that extraordinary last "Anglo-Saxon War : " 
have found it well to study chiefly the writings of Americans, contemporary and 
subsequent. The Canadian writers arc wont to magnify all the circumstances of 
that war— not unnaturally, since their land it was which suffered most from it* 
ravages ; their land it was whose development was delayed a quarter of a century or 
more by that war. The English writers, on the other hand, cannot be got to look 
upon it as of any consequence: they seem to regard it at the worst and at most as 
an inconvenient and regrettable but unimportant episode in the midst of a life and 
death struggle with an Emperor determined to achieve world power and backed by 
a people unanimous— enthusiastically unanimous— in his support. I do not mean 
to say that American writers are impartial; they are not: but from them the facts 
.an be gathered, and. by allowing a judicious discount, their inter-relation and 
significance can be fairly arrived at. 

From American sources it is plain that the war was not popular in New 
England and Xew York. The ships in Boston harbour hung their flags at half- 
mast when war was declared: the administration from the beginning to the end 
came in for unlimited criticism and what we in this more gentle and considerate 
age would call abuse. The Easl did not contribute many troops, comparatively 
speaking, until invasion was threatened on her own shores, and then .rather for 
protection than attack. 

The mainspring of the war was Henry Clay, the ••Mill-Boy of the Slashes 
his War Hawk Party were its most ardent advocates; and the charge of Madison's 
political opponents that the declaration of war was for political purposes nmsi 
discounted so far at least as it refers to any political scheme of the President - 



own. 



Madison, then, was very wise to send Henry Clay as one of the American 
Commissioners to consider the terms of peace: and Clay had an infinitely difficult 
tae l5 to perform. He probably did not himself desire peace— at least not for a 



1915 HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RIDDELL. 11 

time: his party certainly did not, unless the humiliation of Britain accompanied or 
preceded it. He was compelled nevertheless to work for peace ostensibly; lie could 
not take an open stand against the peace desiderated by his Government. 

After the instructions of the Presidenl to the American Commissioners to 
give up the demand that. Britain should formally abandon her claim to search 
American ships on the high sea.- and to take therefrom British-born sailors, settle- 
ment on the basis of status 'juo ante helium was well in sight. Two tilings were 
to be feared ; the anger of the West and the jibe of the East. That the Bast would 
sneer was certain. Witness what was -aid in the Xew York /-'renin;/ Post of 
November 11th, 1814: 

'"Thomas Jefferson deputed two Ministers to Great Britain for the 
ostensible purpose of negotiating a treaty with that power. These men. 
Messrs. Munroe and Pinkney, high in the Favour of the President, concluded 
a treaty with the British Commissioners on the 31st December, 1806. This 
treaty, on its arrival in this country, Mr. Jefferson rejected because it 
contained no stipulation on the part of Great Britain to relinquish the 
right to search merchant vessels for deserters: rejected it, too. without lav- 
ing it before the Senate, tint- assuming the sole responsibility of all the 
evil which might follow. 

"This peremptory rejection by Mr. Jefferson of a treaty which, it' 
accepted, would probably have invigorated our commerce and given a new 
impulse to our prosperity, was universally considered as indicating on the 
part of this Government, so long «s democracy wielded it, an unalterable 
determination never to conclude a treaty with England until she formally 
surrendered the right of search. Now mark the contrast: 

".lame- Madison, appoint- five Commissioners to proceed to Kurope to 
negotiate a treaty with tins same Great Britain, and in Ins private instruc- 
tions to them relative to the manner of conducting the negotiation. i> the 

following passage: 'On mature deliberation, it has I n decided, that 

under all the circumstances above alluded to. incident to a prosecution of 
tin' war, you nun) ■unit unit stipulation mi //<<• subject of impressment, if 
found indispensably necessan to terminate it.' 

"Thus we see that after a period of .-even years, in which the country 
has groaned under embargoes, nonimportation and non-intercourse acts, 
with a large progeny of enforcing law.-, abridging and almost annihilating 
civil liberty, a period of three years of which has been marked by a dis- 
a-ti'ou- war, Madison is compelled to abandon his predecessor's ground, and 
solicit the very terms whii ; Ji ff< rson rejei ted." 

And the Xew York Evening 1'o.st >'.;i- by no means the most waspish "f the 
Eastern journals. 

But if peace should not be obtained, • n that part of the country 

seemed eve n ''■"• itening. More than one paper urged the legality, and more 

than hinted the advisability of the North-] i ithdrawing from the Union. The 
Connection! Spectator, the Boston Gazette, the Boston Daily Advertiser, and 
Portsmouth Orach were outspoken, while the more conservative Hartford Courant 
and Columbia Centinel were nol far behind. Calhoun was by uo means the 
Nullifier: and ii is uot al ■ in kel that there was more in the Hartford ( 
vention than n- annalist permits us to ei 

In that part of the country, there was no great loss of popularity to 
By the signing of a Pi i i Treaty. In the Smith and West, however, peace without 



1-2 RKIMIKT OF THE No. 60 



the humiliation of Britain was certain to cause an outbreak of angry passion. No 
one could forget the treatment meted out twenty years before to John Jay when 
he returned with a treaty which did not fulfil the hopes of a large party in the 
United Stair-. 

John Jay, of whom Daniel Webster said : " When the spotless ermine of the 
judicial robe fell on John Jay, it touched nothing less spotless than itself" — John 
Jay. the Chief Justice of the United States, was openly charged with selling his 
country; ho was accused of the worst and most despicable motives; he was hanged in 
effigy; he lost the dearest hope of his heart, the Presidency of the United States; 
because he had not achieved the impossible and had not brought home a treaty 
which Britain refused to give. 

All this, the Commissions knew — and it is to the credit of all of them — 
most, perhaps, to the credit of Henry Clay — that they affixed their signatures to a 
treaty which bade fair to engulf them all in popular opprobrium. In my humble 
judgment Henry Clay has never received the credit which is his due for this act 
of self-abnegation. 

Had there been an Atlantic Cable at that time it is more than likely that the 
Commissioners would have been received with execration; but before news of the 
Treaty reached the Republic the whole atmosphere was changed. Pakenbam's 
attack on New Orleans had been repuhed ; the riflemen of the Mississippi valley 
had verified the boast of their admired leader that they were a match, and more 
than a match, for Britain's best and bravest; the Red Coat had again been 
defeated by the Butternut on American soil. In the midst of the jubilation over 
this event, came news of peace. The Valley of the Mississippi, which was most 
opposed to peace, rejoiced in a 'brilliant victory of its own, and was perfectly con- 
tent to let the fight end, the last round being in its favour. Had it not been for 
this victor)', it is most likely that the inconsequent peace, leaving nothing gained 
for which war had been proclaimed, would have met with a reception such as that 
met by Jay's Treaty in 1794; but now Clay was vindicated and the "Britishers 
whipped." 

From this battle, indeed, arose the curious myth for long sedulously taught by 
the school histories of the United States, that the war was an almost unbroken 
series of glorious victories for its arms, that the British were almost everywhere 
defeated, that what was dubbed in advance " the Second War of Independence " 
was as triumphant and successful as the first. But no great harm has resulted 
from this pleasant delusion, and it would be almost a pity to disturb it. 

This battle has always reminded me of the Irish duel between a very stout man 
and a very thin man. The stout man was not allowed his request that he should 
stand twice as far away from his antagonist as his antagonist from him, but his 
second made matters all right by drawing vertical chalk lines on the fat man's 
body with a space between them equal to the width of the thin man. and stipulat- 
ing that no hit outside of these lines should count. This battle was outside of the 
war, and therefore " should not count." It had no effect in bringing about the 
peace; and yet it was, if anything, more effective than if it had been fought before 
the Peace was arrived at. The West and South jubilant, and the prowess of 
American arms triumphantly vindicated, the mouth of North and East were 
closed, and the whole nation was content to let bygones be bygones and start on a 
new era of peace. 

On the other side of the Atlantic the Peace was received with what to a" 
Canadian seems exasperating indifference; and the anger of Canadians, burning to 



1915 HONOURABLE ME. JUSTICE RIDDELL. i;i 

avenge the destruction of York and Newark and the defeat of Put-in-Bay, was 
ignored. Even the taunts of a bitter Opposition in the Houses of Parliament 
proved incapable of rousing a war feeling. Britain was content. Nor was there 
any temptation for the United States to renew the conflict when the Emperor 
again rose — nothing had been gained by the war, honour bad been satisfied, and 
the paths of peace were alluring. 

So for a hundred years the English-speaking peoples have been at peace, and 
this because they believe that peace is the normal and predestined state of man. 
that war is not a good in itself, but is to be adopted only when it is the least evil 
of all the evil courses open, and then only that peace may come and abide. 

Tbe gallant soldier who has spoken so eloquent!} tin- evening has urged that 
the young of this country should be taughi to fight for their rights. God forbid 
that tlie time should ever come when men of our breed should need to be taught this 
lesson. We are come of a fighting stock, and we are always all too willing, even 
anxious, to find a reason — I bail almost said an excusi — for fighting. There is 
never any difficulty in our fighting for our rights and never has been. The diffi- 
culty always has been, ami always will lie. to find out what our rights are. And 
it i- (he determination to find out what our rights are before doing anything 
else which has characterized the two peoples for this last century. The right 
inter se of the two nations have in many cases depended upon the treaties which 
they have made, and the peace we all rejoice in has been rendered possible only 
by a scrupulous observance of the pledged word. When there was a doubt as to 
the meaning of that pledged word we have recognized that no parly can he ex- 
pected to determine In- own right impartially; that is to he done by some tribunal 
selected for the purpose. In no less than twenty-one matters— eighteen within 
the last hundred years— have the two peoples determined matters in dispute 
between them by the arbitrament of judges chosen by themselves or by those whom 
they selected foi that function. Let me give an example or two to illustrate my 
po at: — 

The substantive Treaty of Peace of 1783, which fixed tbe rights of the t.wo 
nation- a- to boundaries ami otherwise, gave a- one boutnlan the "River St. Croix'": 
they were unable to agree a- to what was the " River St. Croix," but neither said 
"Might makes Right." While one said "What we have we bold" and the other 
"Not one foot of American soil can ever be surrendered," neither took up arms 
to seize with violence the disputed territory: they most lamely and prosaically 
left the dispute to be settled by two judges and another lawyer: the third being 
chosen because he was "cool, sensible and dispassionate," And when geography 
laughed tit the language ol diplomacy and showed three main channels where the 
agreement called for only one. and a too ardent soldier took po--c--h.ii of a dis 
puted island, the powerful fleet of the other nation did not attempt to eject him, 
but a peaceable joint occupation was agreed upon, and the decision left to an 
independent tribunal. William of Germany bad just discovered the German Em- 
pire, and he ua- selected; his decision did not cause a murmur, although it was 
a bitter disappointment to many of m\ countrymen. 

Where there was m pre. isting agreement between the nations, hi 
of eases have been settled by diplomacy. Where diplomacy failed to determ 
right.-, if the right rested upon documents, the interpretatii f these documei 

left to those skilli .1 in such interpretations. 

The true boundary of Alaska depended on documents. Every one acclaim 
the determination to leave the question to thi di jurists of repute, and 



11 REPORT OF THE HON. MR. JUSTICE RIDDELL. No. 60 

only complaint ever heard on the part of those who lost was based upon the 
belief — well or ill-founded — that the decision was not judicial — was not based 
upon the written word. 

Many times there have been no documents to guide; the nations were driven 
to the immutable rules of justice and right, and especially to these as crystallized 
more or less precisely and regularly in the rules of international law. 

War has been in the air more than once, but every time the sense of right 
and justice has sufficed to ward it off. When, half a century ago, a ship of war 
of the United States did that which Britain had uutil a very few years before 
claimed the right herself to do, and stopped a neutral vessel on the high seas, it 
was not fear of British vengeance or fear that the result would be disastrous 
to a cause dear to the heart of the Administration which caused the amende 
honorable to be made: it was the sense of the governing force of law. The 
American, whose government is a government of law and not by the individual, 
bowed to the force of law when he would have defied any other force in the 
Universe. 

No doubt there were occasions not a few when each people failed in its con- 
duct toward the other in the highest justice; no doubt many a time and oft other 
nations could rightly complain of the conduct of the one or the other toward 
them. Humanum errare est. One fool can do more harm in five minutes than ten 
wise men can set right in a year; and the fool always ye have with you — and have 
no monopoly of the article either. Homo politicus is not invariably homo sapiens; 
the statesmen in neither country have not invariably been 

" too bright and good 
For human nature's daily food." 

•■ My country, right or wrong," is not unnaturally a rule of conduct sometimes 
in peace as generally in war. But on the whole and speaking generally, despite a 
hundred stumbles and falls, there has been fidelity to the pledged word and the 
dictates of the moral law. 

Some of us had hoped thai the example of these two peoples would have taught 
the nations that war is unnecessary. That was not to be. The present terrible 
conflict may be the last; but if this hope prove in vain, we should not despair; 
the cause of Peace must advance, though, like the rising tide, there will be re- 
ceding waves. 

Whatever be the fate of others, as to your nation and mine, I hope and believe 
that as between themselves they have finally and irrevocably decided there shall 
be eternal peace: the peace already well begun shall continue ad multos annos, yea, 
in aeternum. 

For if, as we believe, there is a moral Governor of the Universe, governing by 
a moral law: if our people have that sense of law which equally with the starry 
heavens filled the German philosopher with awe — and that is my faith — it is as 
certain as to-morrow's tide thai your people and mine on this Continent, over 
the Seas and around the Seven Seas, must in the future as in the past be firm 
in the determination that nothing shall break the bond of amity and good-will 
which binds peoples who in differing form have the same government in prin- 
ciple; with whom the will of the people is the final authority; who have the same 
speech which Shakespere spoke, the faith and morals hold which Milton held, and 
who, differing in the superficial, have a fundamental and essential unity. 



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